I never get tired of teaching, because, for me, it is an incredibly creative pursuit. There are principles that are important for any guitar teacher to pass on, and in the early years of teaching I saw my job as imparting information and principles.

The lessons I gave in those years focused mostly on the stuff you can get from books or videos – songs, scales, note reading, theory. I quickly discovered that I could continually improve my abilities to impart that information by honing my communication skills and tuning in to the needs, learning styles and responses of each student. Doing so felt creative and my students learned quickly and enjoyed their lessons, but as the years passed, I became bored and convinced that I could give more. And so I started down a long and enlightening road that I happily expect to never end.

These days I still teach the all important musical principles and information, but what now drives the lesson is the desire to give each individual what is impossible to get from books or videos: how to adjust the hands or body to affect the sound; how to focus the mind or shift a thinking style in order to learn the music more deeply and efficiently; how to abandon the analytical aspects of the music and feel through a song, infusing it with rhythm that is both correct and moving; how to improvise, make up songs or just have fun! The only way for me to do these things is to be 100% present – watching, listening and feeling – and then to allow intuition and creativity to bring forth ideas and processes that create a powerful shift for the student. THAT is remarkably effective and it makes me high every time!

Do the sun salutation every day. It may be a day when the house is cold, one or more appliances are broken and the bills are stacked up on your desk. It may be the next day in a long line of days after you have lost someone you deeply loved. It may be a single day from many that you have striven to overcome physical pain. It may be a day when you feel numbed by the violence on the planet.

Just roll out the mat, light the incense, put on the music. You may complete the first cycle, come back into prayer position and look up to see the sun brightening the tops of the trees. And in that moment, you may experience perfect bliss.

Want to sharpen your senses and expand your creativity? Try getting away – alone! We all know that stepping away from the demands of our typical schedule is great therapy, but we don’t often look at solitude as a valuable component of that therapy.Through both choice and circumstance, I have come to realize that my nature demands periods of solitude, with only the sounds and energies of Nature as a companion. As I attend to those demands, they grow, like an insatiable hunger.

Each day of quiet that I give to myself sharpens my senses more. During my daily country chores the creaking of the barn door becomes increasingly loud, the banging of the wheelbarrow as it rattles across the rocks is almost deafening and the hot breeze moves through the tree branches as if amplified in a concert hall. Every particle of dust or blade of grass appears bright and bold, as if viewed under a magnifying glass. Scents of plants, animals and the earth itself compete for my attention.

As senses are sharpened, mental chatter subsides, opening the consciousness to clarity. With clarity comes both increased creativity and a deepening sense of peace. The mind empties, creating space for healing and insight.

While it is impossible to thrive or even survive in true solitude, as in “solitary confinement,” experiencing an absence of human company while relishing the vibrancy of Nature is nothing short of bliss. May you enjoy it often!

Are you a guitar player without a song to play? If you love playing riffs and leads, you may have achieved a degree of musical success without ever having learned to play a song from start to finish. And, if so, you are not alone.

A lot of guitarists manage to avoid the sequential learning style that is often presented by a teacher or method and skip right to the parts of guitar playing that interest them the most. Avoiding whole-song playing seems to make sense not only to those players who love lead playing, but also to those who are either disinterested in singing or feel lacking in vocal skills. After all, what could be wrong with playing what you want to play?

I’m a big supporter of musicians devoting themselves first and foremost to the music they love! I am also committed, however, to helping guitarists continue to grow in those same areas and sometimes that means investigating foreign territory. I have seldom met a songless guitarist who didn’t, at some point, encounter limitations in rhythm, form and more. These are problems that can be solved simply by gaining an understanding of the complete song, including the rhythm, harmony and melody. That understanding comes most readily by learning to simultaneously sing and strum!

How do you know if you need to learn (or return to learning) to play songs?

The first clue that you might benefit from learning songs may be that you don’t want to! If you find yourself squirming at the thought, consider that your resistance may be due solely to the fact that it seems like a lot of unpleasant work! It’s never much fun to do something that you don’t feel you are good at doing, but that’s the nature of stretching into new territory. Just as when you first picked up a guitar, song playing will require an investment period that involves discipline, but as you improve, your enjoyment level will skyrocket! You will also certainly be happy for the rewards in your general musicianship – and there are plenty of them!

How learning songs will help your playing

Here is a partial list of the benefits of song playing:

Correct or tighten up rhythm by singing the melody while strumming or fingerpicking the pulse

Develop an awareness of and ability to communicate about form, including the number of measures in each section and the number of beats in each measure

Develop a heightened melodic sense and the ability to tie in to or refer to the melody in solos

Aurally connect all of the musical elements (rhythm, harmony, melody)

Strengthen memorization skills

Expand the overall feel for and response to the song (an essential in the art of soloing!

How to make it happen

Choose a song that you like, but be sure it’s a simple song, preferably one that is written in 3/4 or 4/4 time, has a moderate tempo and no more than three chords. Use a basic strum and take your time! The goal is not to create a performance piece, but simply to learn to play a few songs correctly. Don’t worry about your vocal quality, but instead focus on putting all of the elements together.A recording device can be handy for your work and a metronome is essential. If you are not sure that your rhythm is correct, you can contact me to assist you with your method, determine your level of accuracy or help you with corrections. Also, be sure to check out Getting Started, which includes nine songs with instructions and a CD, as well as more tips on song playing.

Are you passionate about guitar? Even if you wouldn’t describe yourself as passionate about creating music, you probably have deep feelings attached to the experience. After all, it is the emotional aspect of music that inspires and motivates us to listen and play – so what role could detachment possibly play in musicianship?

Ironically, detachment may be the musician’s most valuable tool for achieving artistic success. This does not mean that someone who achieves mastery in detachment will produce dispassionate performances. In fact, the opposite is likely to occur, as detachment invites a level of focus that allows deep emotions to emerge in a musical performance.

How Will It Help?

Learning guitar is challenging, but it shouldn’t be chronically frustrating. If you experience impatience or anxiety about your progress, you may be wasting valuable time and energy on judgment of yourself and your abilities, as opposed to engaging in detached analysis and improvement of the performance. It’s no fun to feel like less of a musician (or even more miserably, less of a person!) because of imperfections in your playing!

Detachment will help you to alleviate disruptive feelings and learn to direct your practice time and energy productively. When you learn to stay focused and disassociated from the ego during practice, you will find that you are only a small step away from accomplishing the same onstage. In other words, detachment can not only help you to learn more efficiently, it can also help you to diminish or eliminate performance anxiety!

How Do You Do It?

The first, and perhaps most important, place to implement detachment is in the practice room, where you have a quiet and private place to develop the ability to witness, critique and correct your work without succumbing to frequent and debilitating emotional responses.

Begin with intention. Before you pick up your guitar, set a goal to listen deeply throughout your practice session and to maintain objectivity in uncovering and improving problem areas. Be relentless in your commitment to this musical goal, which does not allow time for indulging in self judgment and unproductive mental distractions. Remember, every time you respond emotionally to your practice, you have gone off task.

When you first begin the process of practicing with detachment, you may have to do some self-coaching: “Keep moving!” “No criticizing allowed!” “Keep your eye on the ball!” No matter how much coaching is required to keep moving toward your goal, just give it to yourself. You will succeed!

Good Things to Remember

You are not your playing. No one is born a great player and each musician has a unique timetable. It is important to honor yours!

Your playing will never be without “mistakes” – but you may reach a level where those mistakes no longer matter to you or your audience and they may even go unnoticed. The truth is, the less they matter to you, the less they will matter to your audience – and you have control over how much they matter to you!

A sense of humor may be your best ally. Of course, it’s important to continually strive for exceptional technique, tone, melodic content, rhythm and more – but don’t forget to have a good time!

Further thoughts on this post (Patience, Tenacity and the Value of TIme)

I did not arrive on this planet with patience – I had to gather it along the way. My nature is to think and move quickly and I easily fall into a rhythm with others who do the same. Slow movers were, for many years, a source of discomfort for me. But a lifetime of conscious work and a plethora of deep experiences transformed my impatient responses and I am far richer for it.

Learning to play guitar taught me patience, but my stubborn habits knocked me around a bit along the way. I was too hard on myself and I hurried so much toward arbitrary goals that I neglected to listen to my physical and emotional bodies. My current mission is to help others avoid beating themselves up as hard and as often as I did. Tenacity, discipline, commitment, all cornerstones of deep learning and musical achievement, have always been mine for the taking and they have served me well. Patience, however, was not an easy fourth cornerstone for me to find and place. It was only with the strength provided by the first three that I managed to succeed.

Teaching guitar presented swift and straightforward lessons in patience. How could I truly give to my students if all I offered them was information? In order to give my students the best of myself, I had to meet them where they were – on all levels of their being. That meant I needed to relentlessly respect the tempo of the individual. As I practiced giving that respect to others, I began learning how to give the same to myself. In time, that gift provided a vital flow of creative and emotional nourishment and became a guide toward a fulfilling life.

Love brings a person to patience and I run on love. Waiting for a child to determine which shoe goes on which foot, a horse to take a long draw from the water bucket or a cat to decide “in or out?” – these are all acts that require surrendering to a tempo that may initially seem tortuous. But the magic of an open heart is that it adjusts quickly and willingly to merge with the pulse of the beloved.

Nature is the best teacher I’ve found for cultivating not only patience, but also an ability to tap into and respond to intuition and creativity. Nature invites us to sacrifice our artificial agendas in order to step into the mystery. I have come to depend on my peaceful country home to provide ongoing comfort and personal lessons.

I love my subdivision road. It takes 6 minutes to go the 2 miles to my house, if you drive it well, which means patiently. Of course, you can arrive in less time, but you not only risk banging the bottom of your vehicle on the rough, unpaved road, you will most certainly miss the albino squirrel, the occasional jackrabbit or the subtly changing view from the high, tight curve in the road.

Those who are in a hurry to get here sometimes report “I love your place, but I don’t like your road.” Of course, I understand that from a certain perspective, the delays can be frustrating and uncomfortable. But from another perspective, every rock in that road is sacred.

If you didn’t have to drive a slow and bumpy 2 miles to get to this place, you wouldn’t find this place at the end of the 2 miles. What is that sublime feeling that washes over you as you make your way up my driveway? It is the absence of traffic noise, the multitudes of unseen wildlife and the whispered wisdom of the trees. It is the non-violence of excessive machinery or hard, formed concrete. It is a history of respect between Human and Nature. It is the most exquisite harmony, complex, yet stunningly simple, and there for all who are patient enough to listen.

He lives just across the road, but I don’t get to see much of him, as the end of my driveway is not within view of my house. Also, he and his herd have plenty of acres to roam and he doesn’t often graze on my side of his territory. When we met last week, it struck me that although there may be a lot of people who would describe a neighbor as bull-headed, I’m one of the lucky few who can do so with delight and awe!

Fingerings, chord shapes, lyrics – you learn them one day and the next they’re gone. Maybe you’ve been taught notes on the staff, scale formulas or chord formulas in the past – and maybe more than once – but you can’t seem to retrieve the information or put it to use. It can be pretty frustrating. But the good news is, your frustrations are less likely caused by your musical limitations than they are by unrealistic expectations and a flawed approach to learning.

Perhaps because music making has such a magical quality to it, we tend to forget that the same laws that govern any other type of learning apply to learning music. Regardless of whether we are studying geography, poetry or chord formulas, the key to retaining information is repetition. By using that key effectively, you can immediately and dramatically increase your progress on guitar!

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Memory

Remember cramming for a test in school? Although you may have remembered enough of the information the next morning to pass the exam, how much of that information was still available to you the following week? If you took the same test a month later, your score would certainly be lower yet and with the passing of a year, you might remember little or none of the information.

By devoting yourself to one intense period of study (cramming), you managed to succeed in committing information to short-term memory. Without sufficient repetition, however, the same information never moved into your long-term memory. If, instead, you had reviewed, taught and used that same information repeatedly over a period of time, you would have moved it into long-term memory and probably would have aced the test a year later.

The same principles of short- and long-term memory apply to learning guitar. When you memorize a chord formula, for example, you can easily move it into long-term memory by reviewing it repeatedly and in varied ways and then putting it to use. The more you practice intelligent memory storage, the more efficient your learning becomes!

In order to capitalize on this basic truth about learning, I included worksheets for every concept or skillpresented in A Guitar Player’s Guide to Music Theory, and I urge students to do the worksheets repeatedly. If you are trying to learn from a course or system that doesn’t encourage or allow sufficient repetition, don’t blame yourself for your frustrations – get a new course, system or teacher!

It all comes down to practice, but not just any kind of practice. There are specific ways to practice that will maximize the benefits of repetition.

Take small bits

All aspects of guitar playing, including ear training and theory, become manageable and fun when you break down the material into small bits and then practice sufficiently. Take a small bit, memorize it, then take another. Review both bits before taking a third. Resist the temptation to memorize too much in one session. Instead, walk away when (or before) you perceive a decline in your mental performance. When you return after a break, review the material thoroughly before taking on more.

Review new material on the same day of the lesson

You will save a lot of time and energy by nailing down new information on the same day you first learn it. If you don’t have time to devote a full practice session to the new work, make sure that you at least think through it before the day is done.

Review the material in varied ways and from varied perspectives

Read it, write it, draw it, apply it to other songs or teach it to someone else. If, for example, your goal is to learn the formula for a scale, first study it and then test yourself on it repeatedly by writing it, saying it out loud and finding places to play it on your guitar. Last but not least, teach it!

Log in a sufficient number of correct repetitions

The amount of repetitions required for mechanical skills (exercises, scales, licks, passages) varies according to the complexity of the skill, but will probably be more than you expect. Always remember that the point at which you can correctly play a passage is the point at which your practice should begin – and that only correct repetitions will be beneficial. Once you begin those repetitions, don’t count them, just do them – and then do them some more.

Be prepared to study facts, information and concepts (theory, note recognition, etc.) in varied ways a minimum of six to ten times, with hours or days in between.

Be intentional

If you want to memorize a passage, song or concept, put your attention on doing so. Playing a piece numerous times while gazing at the music will not result in memorization. Instead, make an intention to memorize it and take the proper steps (above) to make it happen.

Clean up your language

Now that you understand the reasons behind your frustration and have some solutions, clean up habitual thoughts or language that drag you down and misdirect your mental and emotional energy. In other words, keep your eye on the ball and practice productive thinking. In expressing your feelings about your guitar progress, for example, avoid the word “should” as in “I should be able to…” Instead, take a minute to realize how far you have come and then get to work!

It’s true that insufficient, incorrect or ineffective practice can hold you back. A big part of my job as a teacher is to identify practice problems for my students and present solutions. But even the most creative solutions invariably depend on the power of repetition!

“I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself, to give birth to a dancing star.” – Frederick Nietzsche

Face it – some of the well-worn lessons that are taught both in and out of school are ineffective when it comes to learning guitar. At the top of the list of aphorisms I reject is “finish one thing before starting another.” It’s true that a lot of goals, both small and large, are best achieved through a methodical and sequential approach. It is also the case that many people feel that their success in learning is dependent on mastering one concept or skill before considering the next. Enjoying and playing music, however, is predominantly a right-brain function, and as such, often calls us to embrace a squirming, out-of-focus and unfinished picture. Clinging to a linear or graded approach invariably results in sluggish progress and a lack of musical vitality. If your default learning style requires you to feel confident and secure through each step of new territory, maybe it’s time to try something new. Be adventuresome! Jump off the cliff!

What Can Be Finished?

In the musical world, many things are impossible to finish. For example, even when a song is performance or recording-ready, the elements it contains may never be fully explored. When you have “mastered” the fretboard, music theory or composition, there will still be new relationships to encounter and songs waiting to be born. So, the question in study and practice often comes down to: should I stay or should I go?

Music Theory: A Puzzle

Because music comprehension is best obtained by studying numerous musical elements and concepts simultaneously, it is important to be willing to surrender to chaos when learning theory. Know that with time and patience, the elements come together like the seemingly unrelated pieces of a puzzle. If you are tenacious in placing the pieces, you will see how each area feeds an understanding of the others and you will be rewarded with a picture even before the project is completed.

In order to practice ear training, for example, you need a language to describe aural relationships in music. That language is provided by the study of music theory. If you postponed ear training until you finished studying theory, however, you would never get to ear training! Likewise, it would be both unsatisfying and unrealistic to postpone playing your guitar until you had memorized all the notes on the fretboard or saturated your knowledge of theory and ear training. Even if you managed to persist on such a miserable course, your progress would suffer, as the act of playing is itself instructive and using musical knowledge as you acquire it deepens that knowledge.

Songs: When It’s Okay to Move On (and When It’s Not)

While some people resist starting a new song before they have “finished” the old one, others barely start a song before becoming distracted by another. Both of these tendencies can inhibit learning and cause frustration in the long-term. In order to determine the optimum time to spend on learning a song, take an honest look at your personal style and habits. Are you easily bored or distracted or are you a perfectionist? Do you shy away from challenges or do you relish them?

It is natural to lose motivation and consider dropping a piece when, in spite of diligent practice, you find yourself making little or no progress. If this is a common problem, it’s important to discover how tobecome unstuck. If, however, the “stuck” is a result of burnout or of attempting a piece that is beyond your level, it’s best to set it aside. Sometimes it’s just not possible to push through problems in a song until you progress beyond them. Develop your skills systematically through playing fresh material and you will find that when you return to the problematic piece, you will take those skills with you.

Even when you don’t feel stuck, it’s a good idea to overlap songs as you are learning, as opposed to perfecting one song before beginning another. Striving for perfection can create stress and sabotage your efforts – and, after all, your idea of perfection is subjective. Strive instead for correctness.

Playing a piece correctly means that you can play the correct notes and/or chords and that you play them in time. Finished tempo isn’t necessary, nor is satisfying expression or tone, but stay committed to your process and maximize your learning by conquering the basics of a song before leaving it –and don’t forget to return when the time is right!

Practice Well to Finish Well

Although you may never completely finish your exploration of music, when you look back over a period of time, you probably want to feel good about your playing. You can make that happen by cultivating good practice habits. Choose a broad course of study, but make and meet small goals on a daily basis. Be present, persistent andpatientduring your practice time. And remember that while becoming the musician you want to become takes logging in plenty of intelligent practice, it helps if you get comfortable with juggling!

Many of us have been in relationships that had plenty of sparkle, but were painful much of the time. So it is with guitars. When I was fresh into the guitar world, my head was easily turned by beautiful wood, artistic inlays or an exquisite tone. In a moment of passion, I would commit to a guitar that was utterly amazing, but wasn’t right for me. In spite of a strong attraction, without the day-to-day ease that comes from comfort and compatibility, the relationship was doomed.

Although breaking up is hard to do, sometimes it is clearly the best move. The wisdom of experience coupled with the realization that there is no shortage of amazing guitars on the planet led me to healthy, happy (yes, even blissful!) long-term relationships with some great guitars. A little forethought can do the same for you.

Make a List

Before you begin shopping, write down your criteria for your perfect match. (Lists don’t lie!) Start your list with fundamental requirements, such as size, type (acoustic, electric, etc.), playability, quality of workmanship and price range. You can find information about guitar types and tips on guitar shopping and negotiating the deal in this article on how to buy a guitar.

Once you are clear on the basics, add in your personal needs and desires, such as kind of wood, decoration, tone and general appeal. This is the time to reflect on yourself and your music.

Know Yourself, Know Your Music, Trust Your Gut

It is important to consider your body type when choosing a guitar. If, for example, you are small or have a short upper body, you will play and feel your best with a small guitar. Never underestimate the importance of the size and shape of your guitar – a guitar that is too large for you can actually cause injury to your hands or arms!

Different styles of music call for different kinds of instruments. Is the guitar you’re considering built to bring out the sound of the of music that you will be playing on it? You may need to face the fact that you require more than one guitar in order to be effective with the different styles of music you play. (Hey, what guitar player doesn’t like an excuse to collect guitars?) Try to avoid excessive peer influence, brand bias or flashy sales gimmicks when choosing a guitar. When you find a guitar that really draws your attention, pick it up and play it. Tune in to the way it sounds and to how it feels in your lap. Play it some more. Is it your guitar?

Once You’ve Found It, Never Let It Go!

It’s a lot of fun to buy a guitar, but it’s even more fun if the guitar is a sweet deal and a good match. Once you’ve found that match, take it home, give it lots of attention and watch the relationship grow!